Yes, I love curry, too. Alas, it is one of those items that often seem to be a bit complicated. On more than one occasion, I have reverted to a generic curry powder. I find curry recipes are often incredibly long and on any given occasion, I have about half the spices. While surfing Twitter, I ran across a recommendation for this book, I Love Curry by Anjum Anand.
Anjum is a frequent BBC presenter with several books under her belt. She also has a brand of mixed curry spices that one can find on Amazon, but not in most grocery stores.
This book is a great introduction to making curry. Yes, the recipes have a lot of ingredients, but many of them are already in your pantry. You will need to read your recipe very carefully and you might need a day to gather all your ingredients, but for most part, the recipes are easy to replicate. There is a good mix of spicy and mild recipes, both meat and vegetarian, so there is something for everyone.
Here is her take on a spicy lamb curry that is very nice, a bit spicy.
Spicy Lamb, Tomato, and Coconut Curry
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
15 black peppercorns
5cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves
500g boneless or 600g bone-in lamb leg or shoulder, cubed
3 small onions, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
15g ginger, peeled weight, grated into a paste
8 fat garlic cloves, grated into a paste
3-6 green chillies, whole but pierced
Salt, to taste
2 tbsp ghee, or vegetable oil and butter
200-300ml coconut milk, or to taste
1½ tsp lemon juice, or to taste
Using a spice grinder or a good mortar and pestle, pound the whole spices to a fine powder.
Place the lamb, two of the chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chillies, spices and salt in a large saucepan. Add 500ml water, bring to a boil, then cover and cook gently for 45-60 minutes, or until the lamb is cooked and tender. Give the pot a stir every 10 minutes or so.
After about 45 minutes, melt the ghee in a small saucepan and fry the remaining onion until well browned.
There shouldn’t be too much liquid left in the pan once the lamb is cooked. Cook off any excess moisture in the pan over a high flame for six or seven minutes, stirring quite often, until the sauce has mostly been absorbed by the lamb. This bhunoing process will help homogenise the sauce and deepen the flavours. Add the browned onion and ghee.
Pour in the coconut milk and lemon juice, bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes; the sauce should be thick and creamy. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding lemon juice or coconut milk until the dish is perfect for you, then serve.
I do love getting recommendations from the Internet! This one was a winner.